SAO PAULO, Dec 25 (Reuters) – Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro endorsed his son Flavio’s 2026 presidential bid on Thursday in a press release from a hospital the place he underwent a scheduled hernia operation that medical doctors mentioned went easily.
Supreme Court docket Justice Alexandre de Moraes licensed Bolsonaro to go away jail, the place he’s serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup, for the surgical procedure. Police have been ordered to remain exterior his room the place computer systems and cellphones have been prohibited.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, 44, has mentioned he desires to consolidate his father’s conservative legacy on the October 4 vote when he’ll attempt to unseat leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
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“With the dedication of not permitting the favored will to be silenced, I make the choice to appoint Flavio Bolsonaro as a pre-candidate for the presidency in 2026,” Jair Bolsonaro mentioned in a letter learn out by Flavio in entrance of a hospital within the metropolis of Brasilia the place his father was being handled.
The 70-year-old former chief has confronted repeated well being setbacks since surviving a near-fatal stabbing in the course of the 2018 marketing campaign, present process greater than half a dozen stomach surgical procedures through the years.
Thursday’s operation, which lasted about three hours, was described by his physician Claudio Birolini as anticipated and uneventful. Bolsonaro, who is anticipated to remain within the hospital for 5 to seven days, was already in his room and awake, the physician informed reporters.
The previous president might additionally bear a separate medical process concentrating on his recurring hiccups throughout his hospital keep, based on Birolini and physician Brasil Ramos Caiado. The choice on which may be taken after a reassessment of his medical circumstances on Monday, they mentioned.
Deemed a flight threat following his conviction, the ex-president was detained in late November and commenced serving his 27-year sentence three days later.
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Flavio Bolsonaro confirmed this month that his father helps his 2026 presidential bid, unsettling markets that had anticipated the ex-president to favor a extra seasoned contender similar to São Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.
The cancellation of a deliberate interview on Tuesday, the place Jair Bolsonaro was anticipated to formalize the endorsement, helped the true strengthen practically 1% in opposition to the greenback.
(Reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Enhancing by Andrew Cawthorne and Howard Goller)
